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No two writing situations are exactly the same and skilled writers,
like skilled painters, must develop the know-how to represent the
objects of their writing as part of a flexible art. This special
art of writing lies hidden between grammar--the well-formedness of
sentences--and genre--the capacity of texts to perform culturally
holistic communicative functions (e.g., the memo, the strategic
report, the letter to the editor). Concealed between grammar and
genre, this less visible art of writing is what Kaufer and Butler
call "representational composition." Texts within this hidden art
are best viewed not primarily as grammatical units or as genre
functions, but as bearers of design elements stimulating imagistic,
narrative, and information-rich worlds, and as an invitation to
readers to explore and interact with them.
This volume presents a systematic study of the principles that
underlie writing as representational composition. Drawing from
student models derived from a studio method, the authors use each
chapter to present a different aspect of what unfolds--across the
course of the book--into a cumulative, interactive, and unified
body of representational principles underlying the design of texts.
They reveal what makes the textual representations achieved by
expert writers worthwhile, and, at the same time, difficult for
novice writers to reproduce. Extending the framework of their 1996
volume, "Rhetoric and the Arts" of Design, into a realm of textual
design, this volume will interest students and instructors of
writing, rhetoric, and information design.
This book bridges an important gap between two major approaches to
mass communication -- historical and social scientific. To do so,
it employs a theory of communication that unifies social, cultural
and technological concerns into a systematic and formal framework
that is then used to examine the impact of print within the larger
socio-cultural context and across multiple historical contexts. The
authors integrate historical studies and more abstract formal
representations, achieving a set of logically coherent and
well-delimited hypotheses that invite further exploration, both
historically and experimentally.
A second gap that the book addresses is in the area of formal
models of communication and diffusion. Such models typically assume
a homogeneous population and a communication whose message is
abstracted from the complexities of language processing. In
contrast, the model presented in this book treats the population as
heterogeneous and communications as potentially variable in their
content as they move across speakers or readers.
Written to address and overcome many of the disciplinary divisions
that have prevented the study of print from being approached from
the perspective of a unified theory, this book employs a focused
interdisciplinary position that encompasses several domains. It
shows the underlying compatibility between cognitive and social
theory; between the study of language and cognition and the study
of technology; between the postmodern interest in the instability
of meaning and the social science interest in the diffusion of
information; between the effects of technology and issues of
cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity. Overall, this book
revealshow small, relatively non-interactive, disciplinary-specific
conversations about print are usefully conceived of as part of a
larger interdisciplinary inquiry.
In 1888, Mark Twain reflected on the writer's special feel for
words to his correspondent, George Bainton, noting that "the
difference between the almost-right word and the right word is
really a large matter." We recognize differences between a
politician who is "willful" and one who is "willing" even though
the difference does not cross word-stems or parts of speech. We
recognize that being "held up" evokes different experiences
depending upon whether its direct object is a meeting, a bank, or
an example. Although we can notice hundreds of examples in the
language where small differences in wording produce large reader
effects, the authors of "The Power of Words" argue that these
examples are random glimpses of a hidden systematic knowledge that
governs how we, as writers or speakers, learn to shape experience
for other human beings.
Over the past several years, David Kaufer and his colleagues have
developed a software program for analyzing writing called
DocuScope. This book illustrates the concepts and rhetorical theory
behind the software analysis, examining patterns in writing and
showing writers how their writing works in different categories to
accomplish varying objectives. Reflecting the range and variety of
audience experience that contiguous words of surface English can
prime, the authors present a theory of language as an instrument of
rhetorically priming audiences and a catalog of English strings to
implement the theory. The project creates a comprehensive map of
the speaker and writer's implicit knowledge about predisposing
audience experience at the point of utterance.
The book begins with an explanation of why studying language from
the standpoint of priming--not just meaning--is vital to
non-question begging theories of close reading and to language
education in general. The remaining chapters in Part I detail the
steps taken to prepare a catalog study of English strings for their
properties as priming instruments. Part II describes in detail the
catalog of priming categories, including enough examples to help
readers see how individual words and strings of English fit into
the catalog. The final part describes how the authors have applied
the catalog of English strings as priming tools to conduct textual
research.
No two writing situations are exactly the same and skilled writers,
like skilled painters, must develop the know-how to represent the
objects of their writing as part of a flexible art. This special
art of writing lies hidden between grammar--the well-formedness of
sentences--and genre--the capacity of texts to perform culturally
holistic communicative functions (e.g., the memo, the strategic
report, the letter to the editor). Concealed between grammar and
genre, this less visible art of writing is what Kaufer and Butler
call "representational composition." Texts within this hidden art
are best viewed not primarily as grammatical units or as genre
functions, but as bearers of design elements stimulating imagistic,
narrative, and information-rich worlds, and as an invitation to
readers to explore and interact with them.
This volume presents a systematic study of the principles that
underlie writing as representational composition. Drawing from
student models derived from a studio method, the authors use each
chapter to present a different aspect of what unfolds--across the
course of the book--into a cumulative, interactive, and unified
body of representational principles underlying the design of texts.
They reveal what makes the textual representations achieved by
expert writers worthwhile, and, at the same time, difficult for
novice writers to reproduce. Extending the framework of their 1996
volume, "Rhetoric and the Arts" of Design, into a realm of textual
design, this volume will interest students and instructors of
writing, rhetoric, and information design.
"Rhetoric, the Polis, and the Global Village" represents current
thought on the role of rhetoric in various disciplines, and
includes such diverse topics as race, technology, and religion,
demonstrating the expanding relevance of rhetoric in today's world.
The essays included in this volume address the question of the
polis in ancient and modern times, gradually converging with the
more recent 30-year span between the decade of the Global Village
and today's rhetorical rehearsals for a political global economy.
Originating from the 1998 Rhetoric Society of America's biennial
conference, and representing the 30-year anniversary of the
organization, this volume offers to all readers the keynote
lectures and selected papers celebrating the universality of
rhetoric across cultures. As a benchmark for the scholarship and
growth of the rhetoric discipline in recent history, it will be of
great interest to scholars in classical and contemporary rhetoric,
writing, and other fields in which rhetoric has attained critical
significance and influence.
The design arts -- from the design of buildings and machines to
software and interfaces -- are associated with types of knowledge
and performance thought to be structured, modular, and systematic.
Such arts have become increasingly prestigious in our technocratic
society. Since Aristotle, the art of rhetoric was conceived as a
loosely structured "practical" art thought to be limited in the
extent to which it could mimic more precise subject matters. The
art of rhetoric has been controversial since classical times, but
its status has sunk even lower since the industrial revolution -- a
point when civic cultures began to cede authority and control to
the cultures of specialized experts. Many sympathizers of rhetoric
have resisted its decline by calling for a civic art of public
discourse to stand in opposition to a technocratic specialized
discourse that has come, increasingly, to disenfranchise the
ordinary citizen.
This is the first book to question the rhetoric/technical
knowledge split from a more fundamental perspective. To get some
perspective on what is at stake in rhetoric's traditional
classification as a "practical" art, the authors:
* explore the distinction between practical and design arts;
* enumerate the various criteria cited in the literature for
qualifying a cluster of knowledge and performative skills to count
as an art of design;
* show how the knowledge and performative skills associated with
the art of rhetoric meet the major requirements of design
knowledge;
* propose a general architecture of rhetorical design, one
descriptive both of civic address and specialized academic
argument;
* turn to the Lincoln/Douglas debates to embody and provide some
empirical support and illustration for their architecture;
* demonstrate how Lincoln and Douglas can be thought of as expert
designers whose rhetoric is highly structured and modular; and
* explain how the rhetoric of both rhetorical agents can be
represented in the layers and modules that one needs to display
plans for buildings, software, or other design artifacts.
These layers and modules are not just post hoc annotations of the
debates; they also illuminate new and systematic ways for viewing
the debates -- and by implication, other specimens of rhetoric --
in terms of strategies of artistic production. Kaufer and Butler
conclude their presentation by citing some of the research and
educational implications that follow from housing rhetoric within
the family of design arts.
In 1888, Mark Twain reflected on the writer's special feel for
words to his correspondent, George Bainton, noting that "the
difference between the almost-right word and the right word is
really a large matter." We recognize differences between a
politician who is "willful" and one who is "willing" even though
the difference does not cross word-stems or parts of speech. We
recognize that being "held up" evokes different experiences
depending upon whether its direct object is a meeting, a bank, or
an example. Although we can notice hundreds of examples in the
language where small differences in wording produce large reader
effects, the authors of The Power of Words argue that these
examples are random glimpses of a hidden systematic knowledge that
governs how we, as writers or speakers, learn to shape experience
for other human beings. Over the past several years, David Kaufer
and his colleagues have developed a software program for analyzing
writing called DocuScope. This book illustrates the concepts and
rhetorical theory behind the software analysis, examining patterns
in writing and showing writers how their writing works in different
categories to accomplish varying objectives. Reflecting the range
and variety of audience experience that contiguous words of surface
English can prime, the authors present a theory of language as an
instrument of rhetorically priming audiences and a catalog of
English strings to implement the theory. The project creates a
comprehensive map of the speaker and writer's implicit knowledge
about predisposing audience experience at the point of utterance.
The book begins with an explanation of why studying language from
the standpoint of priming--not just meaning--is vital to
non-question begging theories of close reading and to language
education in general. The remaining chapters in Part I detail the
steps taken to prepare a catalog study of English strings for their
properties as priming instruments. Part II describes in detail the
catalog of priming categories, including enough examples to help
readers see how individual words and strings of English fit into
the catalog. The final part describes how the authors have applied
the catalog of English strings as priming tools to conduct textual
research.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Republicans and Democrats who
advocated conflicting visions of American citizenship could agree
on one thing: the rhetorical power of Abraham Lincoln's life. This
volume examines the debates over his legacy and their impact on
America's future. In the thirty-five years following Lincoln's
assassination, acquaintances of Lincoln published their memories of
him in newspapers, biographies, and edited collections in order to
gain fame, promote partisan aims, champion his hardscrabble past
and exalted rise, and define his legacy. Shawn Parry-Giles and
David Kaufer explore how style, class, and character affected these
reminiscences. They also analyze the ways people used these
writings to reinforce their beliefs about citizenship and
presidential leadership in the United States, with specific
attention to the fissure between republicanism and democracy that
still exists today. Their study employs rhetorical and corpus
research methods to assess more than five hundred reminiscences. A
novel look at how memories of Lincoln became an important form of
political rhetoric, this book sheds light on how divergent schools
of U.S. political thought came to recruit Lincoln as their
standard-bearer.
Women candidates are under more pressure to communicate competence
and likability than men. And when women balance these rhetorical
pressures, charges of inauthenticity creep in, suggesting the
structural and strategic anti-woman backlash at play in
presidential politics. Hillary Clinton demonstrated considerable
ability to adapt her rhetoric across roles, contexts, genres, and
audiences. Comparisons between Clinton’s campaign speeches and
those of her presidential opponents (Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders,
and Donald Trump) show that her rhetorical range exceeded theirs.
And comparisons with Democratic women candidates of 2020 suggest
they too exhibited a rhetorical range and faced a backlash similar
to Clinton. Hillary Clinton’s Career in Speeches combines
statistical text-mining methods with close reading to analyze the
rhetorical highs and lows of one of the most successful political
women in U.S. history. Drawing on Clinton’s oratory across
governing and campaigning, the authors debunk the stereotype that
she was a wooden and insufferably wonkish speaker. They marshal
evidence for the argument that the sexist tactics in American
politics function to turn women’s rhetorical strengths into
political liabilities.
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